Prayer - How Long has it Been ?

How long has it been since you prayed? I don't mean the before-you-eat kind of prayer, but, instead, the lay-it-all-out-there kind of praying. I mean the kind of prayer where you tell God your deepest, most private thoughts; where you pour out your heart to Him. We NEED an intimate relationship with God through prayer.

Need forgiveness? Pray. Need healing? Pray. Need comfort? Pray. Need direction for your life? Pray. Need a job? Pray. Need money to pay the bills? Pray. If you truly have a need, God wants to meet that need in your life!

There are some prerequisites though. First of all, you must put your faith and trust in Christ for forgiveness of your sinfulness and be committed to being a Christ- follower. He hears the prayers of His children. Only those who are in His family of believers are His children. After that, you must pray within His will. If you know you've been called to be an evangelist, but you are praying for a job as an accountant, that probably isn't in His will - and you know it. The same goes for asking the Lord to let you win the lottery. He doesn't want you to waste your money on such things! The last prerequisite is simple but we sometimes forget it. We must ASK, believing that if it is within His will, He will provide what we need. Yes, God knows our needs before we ever come to Him, but He wants to hear it from us. He wants us to communicate with Him!

So, I' m not a Name-it-and-Claim-it kind of gal, because I don't believe we can ask for just anything because we want it, and then expect God to give it to us. However, we ARE told to bring our burdens to the Lord. We are also told that if we call to Him, He will hear us and will show us great and mighty things which we did not know. So I ask again, how long has it been since you prayed? Has it been a while? I want to encourage you to find a quiet spot and spend some time with God today. He's waiting to hear from you!

The Benefits of Spending Time with Jesus

I used to think that spending time with Jesus was just a luxury for single people and those who no longer had children at home. Of course, I was wrong. Yes, I actually said it! I was wrong. Our time spent talking with the Lord should not be merely once, or maybe twice, a day! Instead, we should be having an ongoing conversation with Him all day long! As we are driving to work or school, we should pray for the day ahead, asking for His guidance throughout the day; asking Him to direct our thoughts, actions and even our reactions to others. 

Jude 1:24 says that Jesus is able to keep us from stumbling, slipping or falling. Now that could be taken literally, but I think, more often, it is to be taken figuratively. He can help me keep my mouth shut when I really want to blast someone. He can keep me from reacting badly in an already volatile situation. He can help me listen calmly and openly when someone is criticizing me instead of reacting defensively. He can keep me from putting my foot in my mouth. All of this and more are available to me.......IF, and ONLY IF, I walk with Him daily, hourly, every minute of the day.

As we go through our day, we must remember that God cares about the little things as well as the big problems in our lives. There is no problem too big OR too small for God. I can't even count the number of times I've asked the Lord for a parking space, when I was in a time crunch, or asked Him to show me the keys I had misplaced, and I needed to leave, like, NOW! He always comes through- right on time! He cares about our every need. Of course He also knows whether it is a genuine need or just something we want! Currently, I have misplaced something that is valuable to me and I have been asking the Lord to show me where I "put it for safe keeping." ( I do that a lot, and I have GOT to stop doing that!) So far, He has not chosen to let me find it. I have looked high and low, but...nothing. I am trying not to freak out over it. I have every confidence that if I really need it, the Lord will show me where it is hiding. Until then, I have PEACE!  What a blessing! I can have peace instead of stress because I know Jesus cares about every small detail of my life!

 

Philippians 4:6-7 CEV - "Don't worry about anything, but pray about everything.  With thankful hearts offer up your prayers and requests to God. Then, because you belong to Christ Jesus, God will bless you with peace that no one can completely understand. And this peace will control the way you think and feel."

Jude 1:24 AMP - "Now to Him Who is able to keep you without stumbling or slipping or falling, and to present [you] unblemished (blameless and faultless) before the presence of His glory in triumphant joy and exultation [with unspeakable, ecstatic delight]--"